March 2, 2009 Issue

Cover art by: Cover design by Gene Case & Stephen Kling/Avenging Angels

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Feature

Can a Green Economy Save a Drying Planet?

While we are busy addressing the economic meltdown, the worst droughts in history present a new, possibly bigger threat that there’s no clear roadmap for fixing.
Tom Engelhardt
Can Green Jobs Be Good Jobs?

It felt like a dream a year ago, but a growing coalition of labor unions and environmentalists is putting real muscle into the idea that green jobs will help resolve the economic crisis.
Jeremy Brecher
A World Without Water

Dr. Peter Gleick, founder and president of the Pacific Institute, weighs in on the severity and urgency of the global water crisis.
Tara Lohan
WSF: Is Another World Possible?

At a time of economic, climatic and political crisis, advocates of social justice gathered for the annual World Social Forum to contemplate a new vision for a better world.
Tim Costello and Brendan Smith
Under the Icelandic Volcano

How a cold country lost its shirt in the global economic meltdown, but ultimately found its soul.
Rebecca Solnit
Your Valentine, Made in Prison

This Valentine’s Day you might want to steer clear of Victoria’s Secret, unless you like your lingerie made by prisoners.
Beth Schwartzapfel
Britain’s Winter of Discontent

The global economic crisis hits Britain harder than any other developed country. Is it too big to fail?
D.D. Guttenplan
Blue Dogs Bark

Why do the Blue Dog Democrats get so much attention? They’re more unified and cohesive than any other House faction. And then there’s America’s love affair with fiscal conservatism.
Chris Hayes
Looting Social Security

Behind closed doors, advocates of entitlement reform are pushing Obama to tap the Social Security surplus to pay for bank bailouts. It could be a defining test for new politics in the Obama era.
William Greider

Editorial

Tell The Nation

In big ways and small, the recession is having an impact on our daily lives. Help The Nation track the changes.
The Editors
Labor’s Man Joins Treasury Team

Ron Bloom, a former I-banker with the head and heart of a labor activist, has been tapped to advise the Obama administration on the auto bailout. Let’s hope they listen to him.
William Greider
William Greider Responds

William Greider defends his analysis of how Social Security is threatened by entitlement reformists.
William Greider
The Peterson Foundation Responds

David M. Walker, president and CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, responds to William Greider’s essay, Looting Wall Street, published in the March 2 edition of The Nation.
The Nation
Obama Backslides on ‘State Secrets’

The president has shown a troubling unwillingness to acknowledge the wrongs the Bush administration committed.
David Cole
Barney Frank: ‘Cut the Military Budget’

In a 2009 Nation editorial the Congressman passionately called for money for healthcare, not warfare.
Barney Frank
Cut the Military Budget–I

Reining in the Pentagon’s wanton spending habits is going to be a long, hard slog.
Chris Hayes
Noted.

Max Fraser on New York Wage Watch, Denise DiStephan on the Paycheck Fairness Act, John Nichols on Hilda Solis, Deborah Meier on teachers organizing
The Editors
Pay-Cap Populism

Excessive executive pay endangers our public well-being as surely as any pollutants. Obama’s $500,000 pay cap is just a start at fixing the problem.
Sarah Anderson and Sam Pizzigati
Bankrupt Bailout

Don’t exhaust the Treasury to keep insolvent financial giants alive. The government should liquidate failed banks, sell off their assets and let shareholders eat the dust.
The Editors
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Column

Good Money After Bad

Obama’s stimulus bill is far too modest to arrest an economy in free fall. But if it were up to the GOP, which largely created the mess, we’d be doing nothing at all.
Robert Scheer
Ghost Story: Put Banks Out of Their Misery

America’s largest financial institutions are insolvent. It’s time to face the truth and take the painful actions that will allow the economy to recover.
Nicholas von Hoffman
Save the News, Not the Newspaper

The newspaper industry is falling off a cliff and with it may go much of our civil discourse.
Eric Alterman
Eight Is Enough

With the birth of Nadya Suleman’s octuplets, we confront the virtues of motherhood, the ethics of fertility clinics and the myths we still concoct about childless women’s worth.
Patricia J. Williams
Lesson Learned

Just pay your taxes.
Calvin Trillin

Books & the Arts

The Leavetaking

What legacy did Harold Pinter leave behind?
Richard Byrne
Three Poems

Henri Cole
Henri Cole: The Art of Violent Concision

Henri Cole’s Blackbird and Wolf contains some of the most truthful poems in modern American poetry. He is this year’s winner of the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize.
John Koethe
The Human Metaphor: Marlene Dumas and Barkley Hendricks

The paintings of Marlene Dumas, at the Museum of Modern Art, and Barkley Hendricks, at the Studio Museum of Harlem.
Barry Schwabsky
States of Mind: The Idea of Iran

Thirty years after the Islamic revolution, Iran teeters on the brink of a different kind of revolt. Four books shed light on an ancient nation’s many incarnations.
Negar Azimi
Back Talk: Adam Frank

A conversation with astrophysicist Adam Frank about science, religion and manifestations of the sacred in the physical world.
Christine Smallwood
An Alienation Artist: Kafka and His Critics

Unraveling the Kafkaesque mystique of Franz Kafka.
Alexander Provan
The stakes are higher now than ever. Get The Nation in your inbox.

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Letters

‘Standing on the Shoulders of Giants’

Our readers were profoundly moved by John Mavroudis’s February 2 Obama inauguration cover and wrote in large numbers to tell us so. <
Our Readers and John Mavroudis

Crossword

Puzzle No. 3158

ACROSS

1 Perhaps the people who work for you–material workers, with stripes to show for it. (5,9)
Frank W. Lewis

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March 2, 2009 Issue

Feature

While we are busy addressing the economic meltdown, the worst droughts in history present a new, possibly bigger threat that there’s no clear roadmap for fixing.

It felt like a dream a year ago, but a growing coalition of labor unions and environmentalists is putting real muscle into the idea that green jobs will help resolve the economic crisis.

Dr. Peter Gleick, founder and president of the Pacific Institute, weighs in on the severity and urgency of the global water crisis.

At a time of economic, climatic and political crisis, advocates of social justice gathered for the annual World Social Forum to contemplate a new vision for a better world.

How a cold country lost its shirt in the global economic meltdown, but ultimately found its soul.

This Valentine’s Day you might want to steer clear of Victoria’s Secret, unless you like your lingerie made by prisoners.

The global economic crisis hits Britain harder than any other developed country. Is it too big to fail?

Why do the Blue Dog Democrats get so much attention? They’re more unified and cohesive than any other House faction. And then there’s America’s love affair with fiscal conservatism.

Behind closed doors, advocates of entitlement reform are pushing Obama to tap the Social Security surplus to pay for bank bailouts. It could be a defining test for new politics in the Obama era.

Editorial

In big ways and small, the recession is having an impact on our daily lives. Help The Nation track the changes.

Ron Bloom, a former I-banker with the head and heart of a labor activist, has been tapped to advise the Obama administration on the auto bailout. Let’s hope they listen to him.

William Greider defends his analysis of how Social Security is threatened by entitlement reformists.

David M. Walker, president and CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, responds to William Greider’s essay, Looting Wall Street, published in the March 2 edition of The Nation.

The president has shown a troubling unwillingness to acknowledge the wrongs the Bush administration committed.

In a 2009 Nation editorial the Congressman passionately called for money for healthcare, not warfare.

Reining in the Pentagon’s wanton spending habits is going to be a long, hard slog.

Max Fraser on New York Wage Watch, Denise DiStephan on the Paycheck Fairness Act, John Nichols on Hilda Solis, Deborah Meier on teachers organizing

Excessive executive pay endangers our public well-being as surely as any pollutants. Obama’s $500,000 pay cap is just a start at fixing the problem.

Don’t exhaust the Treasury to keep insolvent financial giants alive. The government should liquidate failed banks, sell off their assets and let shareholders eat the dust.

GET UNLIMITED DIGITAL ACCESS FOR LESS THAN $3 A MONTH!

Column

Obama’s stimulus bill is far too modest to arrest an economy in free fall. But if it were up to the GOP, which largely created the mess, we’d be doing nothing at all.

America’s largest financial institutions are insolvent. It’s time to face the truth and take the painful actions that will allow the economy to recover.

The newspaper industry is falling off a cliff and with it may go much of our civil discourse.

With the birth of Nadya Suleman’s octuplets, we confront the virtues of motherhood, the ethics of fertility clinics and the myths we still concoct about childless women’s worth.

Just pay your taxes.

Books & the Arts

What legacy did Harold Pinter leave behind?

Henri Cole’s Blackbird and Wolf contains some of the most truthful poems in modern American poetry. He is this year’s winner of the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize.

The paintings of Marlene Dumas, at the Museum of Modern Art, and Barkley Hendricks, at the Studio Museum of Harlem.

Thirty years after the Islamic revolution, Iran teeters on the brink of a different kind of revolt. Four books shed light on an ancient nation’s many incarnations.

A conversation with astrophysicist Adam Frank about science, religion and manifestations of the sacred in the physical world.

Unraveling the Kafkaesque mystique of Franz Kafka.

The stakes are higher now than ever. Get The Nation in your inbox.

Letters

Our readers were profoundly moved by John Mavroudis’s February 2 Obama inauguration cover and wrote in large numbers to tell us so. <

Crossword

ACROSS 1 Perhaps the people who work for you–material workers, with stripes to show for it. (5,9)

ACROSS

1 Perhaps the people who work for you–material workers, with stripes to show for it. (5,9)